The Talk - QLFC R4
by WindelynWhisp
Summary: Based on the characters of JK Rowling's Harry Potter When all seems well after the birth of their seventh child, the matriarch of the Weasley family, Molly Weasley says the dreaded words to her husband that all Wizards and Muggles alike fear, "we need to talk." What could it be that Molly has to say? Will this impact her and Arthur's relationship as a couple?


QLFC S7R1

Beater 2 - Pride of Portree

[dialogue] "Uh . . . no thanks. No snip snip."

[creature] Demiguise

[action] hide

The Talk

The silence of the early morning in the Weasley house was broken by the shrill cries of a new born baby. Molly Weasley dragged herself out of her warm bed to attend to the crying child. The cries of little Ginny could be heard throughout the entire Burrow. Arthur Weasley sighed to himself when he was awoken by the sounds of Ginny and Molly stirring to attend to her.

"Every two hours, just like clockwork." Arthur said to his wife as she returned to their bedroom with a tiny bundle in her arms and a bottle in her hand.

The tiny baby in Molly's arms quickly stopped stirring once her tiny fingers wrapped around the bottle.

Molly took in a deep breath.

"Seven children." she said with a sigh as she broke her gaze from her daughter to look at her husband sitting across from her.

"Mmm-hmm" Arthur said sleepily. "Finally got a girl this time."

"Arthur - I think we should have a talk." Molly said in a tone that did not quite register with her sleep deprived husband at that moment.

"Sure, dear. In the morning." Arthur said with a yawn as he lay back down in the bed.

Molly let out a quiet huff to her husband's inability to recognize the serious tone in her voice.

When the sun had finally risen and the patter of small feet could be heard from downstairs. Arthur sat up in bed and stretched with a mighty yawn when he noticed his wife was not lying next to him.

"Probably already up with the kids." he said to himself as he scratched his already thinning red hair.

As if a bolt of lightning had struck him, he remembered Molly saying that they needed to talk. 'I think we should have a talk' were her exact words. The phrase that all Wizards and Muggles alike know is not a good sign for a cheerful conversation.

Arthur quickly grabbed his clothing from the wardrobe and got dressed. Tiptoeing down the stairs to the living room, he placed a foot slowly down one at a time. Each step gave off a tiny creak but to him it was if the planks of wood were imploding beneath him. Finally he reached the bottom of the stairs and quickly made a dash for the door when he heard tiny feet coming from the adjacent room.

"Da-Da!" squealed Ronald Weasley, their second youngest child out of excitement.

"Shhh, quiet my boy." Arthur said to the tiny toddler as he crouched down. "Mummy and I are playing a game of Hide-and-Seek. So I am hiding from Mummy."

Little Ron's face lit up with his toothy grin. "Love games!" he said bouncing on top of his toes.

"Alright now, don't let Mum know where I am, it's part of the game remember? Now head on back into the kitchen and have some breakfast."

"Otay Da-Da." Ron said as he scampered off towards the kitchen.

Arthur let out a great sigh of relief and quickly started back towards the front door, closing it softly behind him.

He trotted off to his 'workshop' as he liked to call it, Molly didn't quite like the idea of him working on and taking apart Muggle items. So workshop was usually the safest term to use around her when it was mentioned.

He was busying himself with what was called a microwave in the Muggle world when his stomach started to growl. He had skipped breakfast and his belly was letting him know full and well.

"Maybe I can slip a bite to eat without being noticed." he said to himself, trying to work up the nerve that he may have to face Molly.

At this point him skipping breakfast to avoid having 'a talk' would probably have her in a bit of a foul mood.

Arthur made his way cautiously back to the Burrow. He was on such high alert he didn't even see the chicken in front of his feet and nearly tripped over the poor bird.

"Ahh, blasted chicken!" he said in a loud gruff.

He recovered his steps quickly and was reminded of the gnawing in his stomach by another relentless growl. He headed to the side of the house to the kitchen door. The Dutch door was partially open on the top half. Arthur peeked in through and listened for possibly anyone still lingering in the kitchen. The only thing that could be heard was the soft hoot of the family owl, Errol. Arthur took a deep breath and pushed the door open to enter the kitchen. It appeared deserted so he decided not to press his luck by lingering and grabbed the closest thing edible. Some leftover toast was still resting on the counter. The crispness of the bread gave off a satisfaction that he appreciated in his peckish state. He went to take another bite when he heard something stirring behind him. He turned to face the sound, it was Molly Weasley. Both hands on her hips and pure irritation written on her face.

"Arthur Weasley!" she said with a hiss.

Arthur wished with all the magic in the world at that moment that he could transfigure himself into a Demiguise to utilize the creatures mastery of invisibility.

"You dare skip out on breakfast to scurry off to your workshop to hide from me?" She began to tap one foot growing with impatience. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" she asked.

"Mollywobbles," he said to her in a pleading voice as he went forward to grab her hands.

Her face released some tension and he swore he could have seen a slight smirk for a moment. He knew his beloved pet name for her would help smooth the inevitable turbulent conversation.

"You wanted to talk, yes?" He said to her calmly.

"Yes, I did. And you running off to your workshop trying to avoid talking to me wasn't going to sway anything in your favor, Arthur." She said to him, her temper coming through again.

"I'm sorry, Molly. I know I shouldn't have avoided you. In my defense, any conversation stemming from the words 'we need to talk' never seems to be good news. These past couple of weeks has been a whirl ride with you and our family. Adding another child, a daughter on top of that, I didn't want to get off that ride."

She sat down at the massive kitchen table and Arthur pulled the chair across from her to better see her face.

"Now, my darling, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" he said to her.

Molly took a deep breath and released it.

"Arthur, you know I love our family. Each child has brought something new to the fold and having Ginny has been nothing short of a miracle. But, we cannot have anymore children. And I think something, well" … she hesitated "something permanent needs to be done on your end."

Arthur sat for a moment, absorbing what his wife was trying to say. And then it struck him what was being said to him so very carefully.

"You're saying that you want me to . . ." Arthur said with a hand motion of scissors towards his nether regions with a face of complete shock.

At that same moment, their eldest child, Bill came into the kitchen. Not only did he hear part of the conversation but saw the embarrassing motions his father was making for his lack of words.

"Bill!" Arthur shouted, not in anger but in surprise and embarrassment.

Bill turned around so fast you would have thought he was trying to Apparate and ran straight into his brother who was close behind him.

"Oy! I thought you were going to ask Mum about taking a Portkey to Filibusters?" his younger brother Charlie asked.

"Um . . . no thanks. Dad's in there telling Mum, 'no snip snip'" mocking the same motions his father was just portraying.

And with both boys having horrified faces they hastily retreated as far away from the kitchen as possible.

Arthur placed his hand on his face to hide his shame and embarrassment and removed his hand with a sigh.

"Molly, my dear, is that course of action really necessary? There are other preventative measures if you're really set on not having anymore children." he said to her pleadingly.

"Well, I can think of one preventive measure for sure for such an occasion." she said as she stood from the kitchen table.

With a flood of relief washing over Arthur's face he said, "and what might that be?"

"You can sleep on the couch." she said as a wide smile came across her face with a laugh.

The two walked out of the kitchen together hand in hand, laughing about the look of horror on their son's face from only moments ago.


End file.
